As you know, the heart of the portfolio is found in your statements
written as reflections on your work. These statements are located on
the seven pages in the objectives section of your portfolio - pages that contain
links to your artifacts in the left hand column. When COMM faculty
members grade your portfolio during
your last semester in college, it is primarily the reflection statements
that will determine your evaluation. It is in the reflection statement
that you describe how an "artifact" you have included in the portfolio
demonstrates your competency in meeting the learning objective you have
indicated it shows. (It may be helpful to review the "categories
of evidence" page from Johns Hopkins to focus your thoughts on the
kinds of materials contained in portfolios.)

The COMM faculty will evaluate your portfolio largely
on the basis of 1) how well your reflection statements show your understanding of the major's goals and 2) how convincing your
reflections are in persuading us that you have met our goals and that
you understand and can explain what is "good work" in communication.
The evaluation rubric should be your guide in writing reflection
statements.

Some things to consider
in preparing reflection statements

First, examine the "Objectives" page in your portfolio and consider
the layout. Make sure that the headings of the pages in this
section have been edited to accurately reflect your concentration,
etc. Be sure that the links on the right take the reader to the
artifacts described in your reflection statement for the seven
category pages. Be sure that the link to the
artifact discussed in your reflection OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW.
Be absolutely sure that you do not have links to your F: drive.

Review the
"evaluation
rubric" for portfolios that the
COMM faculty has prepared. Be
sure you understand the terms and concepts used in the rubric
description and what the faculty are seeking in your reflection
statement.

Begin the
reflection statement page for each section (group of artifacts) with your
explanation of what competencies you are illustrating in that
section. In other words, you need a different introduction to
the page with reflections on messages than to the page with reflections
on application or skills.
Be sure you make it
clear at all points what artifact you are discussing and which of
the portfolio requirement (e.g. "library research paper," etc.) the
artifact illustrates. Do not assume your reader knows what you are
intending to show or what the point of each artifact is. Analyze
your audience and do not expect them to read your mind. [
NOTE: While you may use the same artifact in several places in
the objectives section of the portfolio, you CANNOT use the same
reflection statement. ]

In beginning your
reflection statement, identify the artifact and what competency and
requirement it shows. Then you may want to provide an explanation
of why you selected the artifacts for inclusion in your
portfolio. Normally, you will
also need to provide some context describing how each artifact came
to be. For example, if it was an assignment in a
course, what was the course and goal of the assignment. If it
was from a "real life" experience, what was the reason for creating
the artifact. Perhaps you may wish to
describe the process by which the artifact was created. If it
came from an internship or summer job, you may need to explain the
nature of work for your employer site where the artifact was generated, etc.

Following the
introductory material in the reflection statement, carefully
describe how the artifact (or the experience it
illustrates) documents that you have met the learning goal. This is
essentially a persuasive essay that shows how a group
of artifacts illustrate your competency as a communication major.
The reflection statement is where you make your case (that is, where
you present the reasons) for documenting your abilities in Message Creation,
or Knowledge of your field or Application of your
Knowledge or your Skillfulness in Communicating. The
artifacts are the support material for the assertions (case) you are
making.

Be sure you discuss each of the elements in the listed in the
rubric description for the appropriate goal in relation to your
artifacts, explaining how the artifacts show you have met the
standard. It would be most unfortunate if you write reflection
statements that appear to contain few references to the concepts you
have studied in your COMM courses. When COMM faculty members
read your reflections, what we will want to know is, does the
statement indicate that you understand what good work is.

Feel free to
discuss both strengthsANDweaknesses of your
work. What will you do differently in the future? Remember, we are
interested in what you have learned. We are not expecting that all
of your work is perfect. Reflecting on what you learned from a
project may be as important an indicator of how well you have met
our goals as the absolute quality of the artifact itself.
Some things that do not help to have in a reflection
statement are "arguments" such as, "This is a good paper because I
worked really hard on it." or "Everyone liked my speech." or "I
really enjoyed doing this." You should describe the kinds of
standards that COMM faculty members or other professionals in the
field would use to evaluate the artifacts. Simply asserting that you
have accomplished the objective is not enough (e.g. "This artifact
shows I can create effective mediated messages."). You must give
reasons why and how the artifact illustrates the goal you are
discussing, reasons that sound like the kinds of things
professionals in communication would say. Take a look at
Cassie Hart and
Sybille Rizzoli's in their portfolios from
2011. While not perfect, They give examples of an approach that matches
what we are looking for.
Kyle Christensen's reflections from 2009 are excellent.